49ers Redskins Odds

Written by Jack Jones

The San Francisco 49ers head east Sunday to take on the Washington Redskins. The 49ers have to travel clear across country to the nation‘s capital, which is never an easy task for any team. San Francisco is 17-10-1 all-time against Washington, including a 27-24 home victory in their most recent meeting in 2008. Odds makers believe the 49ers will continue their surge with a win over the Redskins Sunday.

The sportsbooks in Las Vegas have posted a line of San Francisco -3.5 over Washington and a total set of 37.5 points.

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers are arguably the biggest surprise in the NFL to this point. San Francisco (6-1, 3-0 away) is leading the NFC West division by four games through the first eight weeks of the season. It’s not so much of a shocker that they are winning the division, but it is surprising how dominant they’ve been in doing so. The 49ers have won all three of their road games this season with wins over the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals. All three are quality teams that have legitimate shots to make the playoffs.

San Francisco is coming off a 20-10 home victory over the Cleveland Browns last week behind another dominant defensive effort. It was classic 49er football as they ran wild on Cleveland, while shutting down the Browns offense. Frank Gore rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown to help give the 49ers their fifth straight win. They haven’t won six straight in nearly 14 years. The defense forced five fumbles and came up with two turnovers while helping preserve a 17-0 first-half lead.

Gore is having a monster year, sitting fourth in the league in rushing (96.4 yards/game). He has topped 125 yards and scored at least one touchdown in four straight games. Gore passed Roger Craig for second place on the 49ers’ all-time rushing list with his effort last week. Alex Smith has been rock-solid, completing 63.2 percent of his passes for 1,267 yards with nine touchdowns and only two interceptions. The 49ers only rank 23rd in the league in total offense (309.0 yards/game), but they are 10th in total defense (329.1 yards/game). Their stop unit is No. 1 in the NFL against the run (73.4 yards/game) and they haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 29 straight games.

Washington Redskins

The Redskins appeared to be headed in the right direction after their 3-1 start under second-year head coach Mike Shanahan. Instead, Washington has dropped three straight and Shanahan was shut out for the first time in his head coaching career last week. The experiment with John Beck in place of Rex Grossman at quarterback is not working, and everything is a mess in the nation’s capital right now.

Washington (3-4, 2-1 home) is coming off a 23-0 loss at Buffalo last Sunday. They were held to just 178 total yards and 10 first downs. Beck was intercepted twice and sacked a franchise-record 10 times by the Bills. The Redskins were playing without running back Tim Hightower, receiver Santana Moss and tight end Chris Cooley. Both Hightower and Cooley are out for the season, and Moss is going to be out for at least a few more weeks. Also, left guard Kory Lichtensteiger is out for the season, and left tackle Trent Williams is questionable with a sprained right ankle.

The Redskins have allowed a whopping 406.3 yards per game in their last three contests. They have now had at least one three-game losing streak for 12 consecutive seasons, which is the longest such streak in the NFL. Ryan Torain hasn’t been able to do anything in Hightower’s place, rushing for just 31 yards on 20 carries in his last three games. Washington has claimed Dallas running back Tashard Choice off waivers, but he will not suit up Sunday. The Redskins rank 19th in total offense (320.3 yards/game) and 14th in total defense (343.5 yards/game).

Betting Trends

The 49ers are 7-0-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall, but just 2-9-1 ATS in their last 12 games as a road favorite.

The Redskins are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog of 3.5-10.0 points, but only 7-16-2 ATS in their last 25 home games.

Check out what expert handicapper Jack Jones has in store this weekend with his NFL picks for Week 9.

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